Reboot – An Informal Book Review

So today I think I’m going to write about one of the books I’ve recently read. This isn’t going to be a formal book review, but I wanted to write down some thoughts before the “freshness” of them begins to melt away.

In July I read quite a few books (I think 8 or 9) and there are a few I want to talk about, but today my focus is on Reboot. If you are interested in hearing more about the other books I read, you can check out my YouTube Channel, Portraits of M.E., for those 2 wrap-up videos which I’ll link HERE.

Reboot is the first book in a duology and is about a girl named Wren who dies at the young age of 12. However, due to a virus, Wren doesn’t stay dead and in 178 minutes she reboots and is alive again. The twist is that once you die your humanity begins to disappear – the longer you’re dead, the less humanity you retain and Wren was dead for 178 minutes…the longest anyone has been dead and has come back. How much humanity does she have left? Because she didn’t retain as much humanity as others, she’s the perfect solider for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation).

Then at the age of 16, four years after rebooting, Wren is assigned a new reboot named Callum whose number is a low 22. He is full of emotions, opinions, and humanity and all these qualities get him in trouble because all he does is question his orders. He doesn’t want to kill and if he doesn’t begin to listen and do as he’s told, then he will be eliminated. Wren has uncharacteristically become attached to Callum and she can’t imagine him being terminated, so she begins to hatch a plan on how they can escape the grasp of HARC.

And that, my friend, is where I’m going to leave you on the synopsis. To go any further is telling you the whole entire book which I’m hoping you’ll find interesting enough to pick up and read for yourself. And believe me there is SO much more about this story than what I shared!

Reading Reboot while enjoying a refreshing tea at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf during. I read this book in the month of July.

This book was a page turner for me. I liked reading about Wren. Although Wren was supposed to be this extraordinary reboot because of the amount of minutes she was dead, I felt the author did a good job of developing her character and finding those nuggets of emotion. There were times when I thought that she was getting to soft for a 178, but the author would balance these scenes with others that showed she was still pretty far from the normal human. Her reactions and thoughts helped to shape a well-rounded character and remind you that she was still a reboot, even though she was developing feelings for her new trainee Callum.

Callum was a fun character as well because he questioned everything and he wasn’t as ‘by the book’ as the other reboots. This gave the story the “humanity” it needed to resonate with the reader. This also brought the conflict into the story since Callum was the one who broke through Wren’s reboot wall and caused her to feel again.

I liked these two together and thought the author did a swell job of developing their relationship. It wasn’t the usual insta-love but their relationship naturally advanced as they spent time together and as they began getting to know one another more during their training sessions.

The storyline was pretty fast-paced which kept you reading and there were a few secondary plots with other characters that gave it dimension. Since this is the first book in the duology it doesn’t tie all the pieces together at the end, so you’ll find that there are some subplots that are left open. I’m hoping (since I haven’t read the sequel) that Rebel will fill in and close those secondary storylines with a satisfactory ending.

Overall, I really liked this book. The history of the virus that caused children to reboot was interesting and the way the adults handled the situation was believable. I think Amy Tintera wrote a fantastic dystopian novel and I think it’s a book that will capture your imagination.

I would definitely recommend this book to others. Although this book does contain violence because of the killings reboots are involved in, I think anyone 13 plus will enjoy the story of Wren and Callum. The book is pretty clean with language and there are no detailed sexual scenes or situations. Sex is mentioned, but it isn’t described. So this makes it a book that, I think, younger audiences will enjoy. But it’s not just for the younger teen. The story has enough layers to keep the more mature reader entertained as well and if you like a little science fiction in your books, I think you’ll enjoy this one. Also if you are a fan of futuristic novels or dystopian type futures, then I’d recommend you pick up this book.

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